Sunday, 31 January 2010

To the extent we have a health care problem at all, the first step in solving it would turn the middle class loose to demand good stuff cheap. One proposal:

The solution is to be found in bringing healthcare to the market place. End the tax-deductibility of employer-provided healthcare. Allow every citizen, except those enrolled in Medicare or in a military health plan, to receive a refundable tax credit to purchase Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The key thing is that people should have a choice of plans. The tax credit should be available not only to those who purchase HSAs. Some people, for instance, have higher medical costs, so they may prefer a more comprehensive policy. But we could encourage more widespread use of HSAs by raising the cap on the amount of money that people could put in them. Also, owners of HSAs should be allowed to purchase health insurance in any state in the country. The money should be applicable to those employer-sponsored plans still available or to any healthcare plan an individual or family chooses, thus allowing product competition. Unused money in each account should be rolled over in succeeding years, and whatever money remains in each account should be part of an account holder’s estate upon death.

Asked about the decision to read the NW253 bomber his rights after only 50 minutes of interrogation, Obambot David Axelrod said: “We have not lost anything as a result of how this case has been handled.”

Reality: We don’t know yet what we don’t know as a result of how this case was handled. Or at least the public doesn’t. And our learning may be accompanied by a body count.

The response to Obambi’s claim that he failed to adequately explain his health insurance plan to us mo-rons:

But him right. Him not explain health care good. Use too many big words. Say too many compound-complex sentences. Confuse American people. American people not want that. American people want simple explanation. Simpler the better.

Me feel kind of sorry. It must really get on nerves for man with nice voice and people on his side, like lady on TV and cheerleaders in White House press pool. Why can’t lamebrain American people get idea through thick skulls? Them not know how to make choices in own best interests! Need enlightened leaders to make choices for them. (Enlightened = smart. Me look this up in thing called “dictionary.” Dictionary good! Try sometime!)

Apparently, the administration has issued rules requiring parity for mental health treatment with other illnesses. They’ll take effect July 1st. If you want to know why health insurance costs keep marching upward seemingly uncontrolled, this is why: mandating new benefits is always popular, and the government doesn’t have to pay for them. [Note: The government pays for nothing, taxpayers pay for everything.]

I am very sympathetic to the plight of the mentally ill. Unfortunately, most of the people who will tap the benefits are not severely ill people who need intensive care; they’re people who are unhappy.

If you think people have been unhappy before, just wait till you see how they like being poor [poetry unintentional]. (Via InstaPundit.)

That’s the first step in waging warfare from the air. Knock out the other guy’s anti-aircraft artillery batteries and his surface-to-air missiles, and everything else gets a lot easier.

Which is why the effort to prosecute and harass the lawyers who authorized waterboarding was tantamount to an act of war. They will be exonerated of professional misconduct, but still accused of “poor judgment.”

If the next lethal attack on Americans can be attributed to the unwillingness of civil liberties extremists to get the information we needed, those extremists may face far worse than disbarment at the hands of the survivors.

In a time where every economic downturn is labeled “unexpected,” David Axelrod isn’t surprised by something else:

A top White House adviser says it’s gotten to the point where almost any unusual reaction or outburst to a speech by President Barack Obama in the House chamber isn’t really that unusual.

Obama aide David Axelrod was talking about Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s reaction to Obama’s State of the Union address last week.

The justice made a dismissive face, shook his head repeatedly and appeared to mouth the words “not true” or possibly “simply not true” when Obama criticized the high court over a campaign finance ruling.

Axelrod says that “in this weird political season, we have become accustomed to unusual outbursts” in the House during presidential speeches.

Other things that are unsurprising:

That Axelrod would comment on the atmospherics of the controversy, not the substance.

That the Associated Press would apparently let him get away with that.

Saturday, 30 January 2010

The Washington Post reports today that “authorities are inching toward an agreement that would secure cooperation from the suspect in the failed Detroit airliner attack.” Inching is the operative word here. It’s been over a month now that this terrorist has been exercising his “right to remain silent.” Each day that goes by when he does not talk is an outrage.

The Post adds that “public defenders for the Nigerian student are engaged in negotiations that could result in an agreement to share more information and eventually a guilty plea, the sources said. Negotiations could still collapse before the next scheduled court date, in April, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.”

April? Negotiations “could still collapse”? Are they kidding?

What Obama officials don’t seem to understand is that the intelligence Abdulmutallab has is perishable. He was supposed to be vaporized with the plane when it exploded. As soon as al-Qaeda learned he had survived, they began shutting down e-mail accounts, bank accounts, moving and hiding operatives, and closing the intelligence trails he could lead us down. Every second, every minute, every day he did not talk resulted in lost counterterrorism opportunities. If he starts talking three months from now, that’s not good enough.

In its most recent report, [the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] stated that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was being caused by global warming, citing two papers as the source of the information.

However, it can be revealed that one of the sources quoted was a feature article published in a popular magazine for climbers which was based on anecdotal evidence from mountaineers about the changes they were witnessing on the mountainsides around them.

The other was a dissertation written by a geography student, studying for the equivalent of a master’s degree, at the University of Berne in Switzerland that quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps.

The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt.

Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong, but he waited two months to correct it. He failed to act despite learning that the claim had been refuted by several leading glaciologists.